McAfee, an Internet security company, found that Heidi Klum is the most dangerous celebrity to search for online. McAfee has been conducting research on the danger of celebrities’ pop-culture presence in cyberspace for the last five years. The study found that models and movie stars were among the most hazardous this year, while athletes and singers remain relatively low- risk.
While Heidi Klum isn’t maliciously attacking your software personally, “cybercriminals” oftentimes use the names of popular celebrities to reroute Internet users to sites containing threatening software that are designed to siphon personal information and expose the user to viruses.
The next time you’re searching for content on your favorite celebs by typing in search terms like “downloads”, “screensavers”, and “pictures,” be on the alert for abbreviated URLs that can imbed themselves in social media sites and be distributed virally to your contacts.
McAfee found that searching for pictures and video of Heidi Klum results in a more than nine percent chance of being directed to a website that has tested positive for malicious software.
Cameron Diaz, Jessica Biel and Piers Morgan landed on the list f the top ten dangerous online celebrities.